Archived Content

Information released online from June 2012 to September 2017.Note: Content in this archive site is NOT UPDATED, and external links may not function. External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein.

Speeches

Speeches

Speech

Good Morning. On behalf of the United States Embassy in New Delhi, I am honored to welcome you to Passage to Prosperity, the India-Afghanistan Trade and Investment Show. It is a privilege to share the dais with this esteemed group. That you have taken the time to be here speaks to the relationship between the United States, India, and Afghanistan, and our shared commitment to regional stability, prosperity, and peace.

When U.S. and Indian leaders met in June, they specifically discussed this trade show. The well-being and future of this region are directly tied to the economic and democratic development of Afghanistan. At the U.S. Mission in India, we work closely with the government of India on a range of issues affecting our two nations – such as trade, security, and development cooperation. The United States welcomes India’s positive role and contributions to the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Afghanistan. As the world’s largest democracy, India speaks with moral authority when it demonstrates its strong commitment to Afghanistan’s democratic future.

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I’m proud to note that under the USAID-supported Ahmedabad Sanitation Action Lab project, more than 130,000 children have benefitted from access to safe drinking water, improved sanitation facilities and the adoption of WASH and Menstrual Hygiene Management practices.

The Urban Management Centre has done outstanding work to raise awareness about menstrual hygiene, providing courses to more than 10,000 adolescent school girls and boys in schools and communities. Globally, girls continue to either drop out of school or miss days every month. This is one way in which we are helping to break the taboo.

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At USAID, we take partnership very seriously and believe that it is part and parcel of how we operate in India. Our mantra has been: “if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to far, go together.”Over the past few years, we’ve worked with more than 100 organizations from the private sector where we co-fund and co-design programs to address development challenges in the area of maternal and child health, tuberculosis, energy, early literacy, WASH, and financial inclusion.

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For decades, USAID has been privileged to partner with India to improve land management. In this arena, Indian agencies and USAID’s joint objectives have focused on improving the productivity and health of natural resources for India’s people, and to share these successes and best practices with others around the world. Those objectives have been consistently realized.

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The Government of India has set a precedent in the world by committing to increase India’s clean energy production by a staggering 175 gigawatts by 2022. Our commitment towards achieving this goal is strong and unrelenting. USAID’s bilateral program with the Ministry of Power, called Greening the Grid, will over the next five years support India’s efforts to manage large-scale integration of renewables into the Indian power grid in a cost-effective manner. And I’m delighted to note that the work under this partnership has already begun in full force.

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Today, USAID efforts in India mark a shift from the traditional donor-recipient relationship to a strategic partnership of equals. USAID’s partnership with India has continued to evolve with the changing priorities and challenges faced by our two nations. These include improving the health of vulnerable populations in India and accelerating India’s transition to an environment-friendly country.

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As you know, India and the United States have a long and successful partnership in the energy sector that has grown stronger and deeper under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi and President Obama. It’s a testament to our common interest that our leaders have visited one another seven times over the past 20 months – and where clean energy and climate change were always a key component of their talks. As I have been telling people for many months, our work together on climate and clean energy may be the single biggest pathway of US/India cooperation in the years ahead.

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Building a Smart Grid has become a top priority for India. Approximately 45 percent of India’s poorest households lack access to electricity and approximately 20 percent of its installed electricity capacity is lost to various technical and commercial inefficiencies. These combined technical and commercial losses threaten to deplete state finances that are already strained, but also prohibit millions of Indians from living with a stable and reliable power source.

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"Food is the moral right of all who are born into this world." These are the immortal words of Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, the great American humanitarian and scientist who pioneered the Green Revolution. As many of you know, in the mid-1960s, Dr. Borlaug teamed up with Dr. M.S. Swaminathan to drastically increase wheat yields in India, helping this country become self-sufficient in food. Some of my family members, who hail from Punjab, still remember the dramatic impact of the Green Revolution.

Last week, I visited the statue of Dr. Borlaug, which is just behind the hall where we are meeting today. It was a powerful reminder of the legacy of this extraordinary human being, who saved tens of millions of lives in the 20thcentury. I think Dr. Borlaug would be very pleased with the cooperation we are undertaking today.

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The United States and India have a long and successful strategic partnership in the energy sector. In 2009, our governments held a Strategic Dialogue focusing on five pillars including energy and climate change.

One of the most significant outcomes of this Dialogue is our Partnership to Advance Clean Energy, or the “PACE” initiative, launched by President Obama and former Prime Minister Singh in November 2009. It remains the flagship program for clean energy between the United States and India.

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We are here to inaugurate the use of the power systems modeling tool PLEXOS, by Energy Exemplar, under our joint Clean Energy Program: the Partnership to Advance Clean Energy – Deployment – PACE-D. Power systems modeling is a core element of the newest addition to PACE-D called Greening the Grid, which focuses on large-scale integration of renewable energy.